Gates of Ivory, Gates of Horn
by Althea SaDiablo
Summary: "Dreams are baffling and unclear of meaning, and in no wise do they find fulfillment in all things for men. For two are the gates of shadowy dreams, and one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory." ... a Miscellany of Dreams.
1. Saiunkoku Weyr

**Author's Note: **I started this particular fic series for lack of any better place to put snippets like the one that follows. "Forgotten Works" is for vaguely canon-affiliated works, "TanTan's Library" for the same but of a more questionable nature content-wise . . . but I still lacked a place to put those stories that were not related to the canon at all but were too short to stand on their own as full stories. And thus, I have created yet another non-continuous series of shorts . . .

This is exceedingly random, yes, I know. I got my start on fanfic in general in the Pern fandom, RPing and writing stories for a now-defunct club called Starshine Weyr. I have very fond memories of that particular time, when the whole internet thing was just starting to hit it big, and I was just discovering its wonders . . . things like the long load times and the frustrations of AOheL are slowly disappearing in the rosy glow of nostalgia . . . ah, the wondrous internet, the reason why I did not sleep all through high school . . .

Er. This was written for the fic battle over at the saiunkoku_fic community.

* * *

**xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx**

Consciousness peeked tentatively into Shuurei's fuzzed brain, as quiet and soft as the early light stealing across the stone floor of her weyr. She opened one eye and attempted to focus on the two large dragons comfortably twined together on the ledge, dark gold and silver-bronze. They regarded her right back through whirling green-blue eyes. The perpetual amused glint in her golden Kochouth's could simply have been her normal arch humor, but probably not. Her mind was sleepily refusing to identify the bronze.

_*Seiranth,*_ Kochouth said, sounding positively smug.

Seiranth? Whose was he, again?

With that thought awareness and memory surfaced: Kochouth's waking, _hungry_, her kills, the scattered images of the flight- and scattered images that had nothing to do with flying, that included male bodies around her, tension, skin under her hands-

Those few times when she'd thought about Kochouth's first mating flight, she had reassured herself: she would wake up afterwards, first and early, sneak out of bed, get dressed. That would hopefully minimize the awkwardness when whichever bronzerider it was woke up; then she and the rider in question would have a serious and logical discussion, their first as the new Weyrleaders of Saiunkoku Weyr. It would be very analytical, focusing on the balance of responsibilities between them and planning their first steps as leaders. The flight itself would be put out of mind and quickly forgotten.

That was how it had been in her head, anyway. But it seemed that the reality was rather different, because her cheek was pressed against bare skin, and there was the steady drum of a heartbeat in her ear. One of her legs was inextricably tangled with a longer one, and her arm proved to be mostly under a male shoulder. Her other hand firmly held a fistful of fine and overly long blonde hair. And despite her plans to be the first one awake, it was rather apparent that she'd failed to manage it: a hand was stroking her own black hair, smoothing the straight strands into place along her back.

She discarded the immediate, panicked idea of pretending to be asleep: neither of them would be going anywhere without the other's full knowledge, that was quite clear. She steeled herself, and looked up- directly into familiar amber eyes.

_It's not possible._ "R'ki?" she managed, and it came out as a squeak.

"Umm," he said, his head craned down to see her, "good morning?" His eyes flickered away to the two dragons watching them from the ledge, and he smiled at a comment she couldn't hear. "Well, actually 'afternoon,' according to Seiranth."


	2. College

**Author's Note:** I . . . have no excuse for this. None at all. BUT OMG IT WAS SO FUN TO WRITE. This is all the fault of my friend Yamino Majo, who made the initial request. Once again this was written for the fic battle over at the saiunkoku_fic community on LiveJournal. I . . . actually have some ideas left over for this little set-up, we'll see if I ever get around to writing them. Oh, and warnings for language, by which I mean cussin'.

* * *

**xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx**

Seiran glanced at the printout in his hand and nearly tripped over a tasteless green shag hammock chair that had been left in the hallway. He cursed under his breath and edged around someone's overstuffed laundry bag, resisting the temptation to tip over someone else's precariously-balanced box of knickknacks and romance novels.

_Who the hell bri_n_gs a book about sparkly vampires to_college_?_

Not for the first time Seiran questioned his sanity in allowing his foster father to talk him into trying the college experience, dorm living and all. The chaos of people and belongings in the hallway made navigating about as dangerous as the freeway during rush hour.

"What's the number again, Seiran?" Shouka called over his shoulder, leaning back to counterbalance the cardboard box he carried, which was piled high with used textbooks.

"307," Seiran said, juggling his duffle, wire hangers, pillow, and ancient radio alarm clock to stuff the paper into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Think I found it," Shouka said, his head craned around the leaning stack of books. "If I shift a bit I can probably-"

"I'll get it!" Seiran said quickly, his imagination supplying a horrifying picture of what might happen if his accident-prone adopted parent attempted to open the door. He dumped the duffle so he could reach past Shouka and release the handle on the scarred door. Fortunately it was unlocked- which meant his new roommate must have already arrived.

The room inside was small, with barely enough space for the two wardrobes, two desks, and two identically ugly lofts that were stuffed inside. One of the desks already boasted a dusty printer and a new computer poking out of its box among the packing peanuts. Shouka set the box of books on the unclaimed desk with a groan of relief, and Seiran squeezed past him to slide his alarm clock on the spare corner, slinging his duffle onto the battered brown linoleum under the loft. He was a bit more careful with the hangers, not wanting them to spill out over the floor.

"Hey, welcome," a voice came from the other loft, directly behind Seiran. "You must be- oh, sweet! I didn't know they had coed rooms here, that rocks!"

The words brought Seiran to his feet in an instantaneous rush of temper, and he cracked his head on the underside of his loft. The pain just added to his anger, and he whipped around to face whatever unfortunate idiot had been assigned as his roommate.

He found himself staring up into a lean, rough face, one with a long jaw and slightly hooked nose, and dark eyes under shaggy bangs. The shadow of stubble accented hollow cheeks, but didn't hide the pale, familiar old scar under one eye.

"_Rex?_" Seiran choked on the name, one he hadn't said in years, staring at the fading gang mark. "No fucking way."

His new roommate's eyes went wide. "Holy shit, you're a _dude_. How do you know my- oh, _hell way_. God is _shitting_ me-"

The crash of textbooks cascading off the desk interrupted them, along with Shouka's aborted yelp as he jumped to catch them and barked his toe on the blocky desk chair.

"I got it, I got it," Seiran said quickly, stepping over the books and guiding his awkwardly-hopping foster father out the still-open door. His heart was hammering all of a sudden, pounding with memories. He had to get Shouka away before his new, _old_ roommate could say anything damning.

"But-" Shouka protested. "You roommate- I should say hello-"

"I'll introduce you and Shuurei at the same time, it'll be easier that way," Seiran said, and closed the door firmly between them.

He turned slowly, and his roommate jumped down from his loft without bothering with the ladder. He was tall and lanky, with a football player's broad shoulders- and a familiar idiot grin to match.

"Fuck _me_," he said. "It's really you."

"Don't you fucking _dare_-" Seiran started.

It just made his roommate grin wider. "_Twister_. What're you gonna do, huh? Damn, you're just the same. Haven't seen you since juvie, man. How's tricks?"


	3. Assassin: Revelation

**Author's Note:** So this is actually a later part of my Assassin AU, but since I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to finishing that story (the majority of my efforts are currently devoted to Cyberpunk and Demon Hunter, and I think those are going to keep me busy for a loooong time), I thought I might as well post it up here. Since it's written, and all, and there were a lot of people who were interested in this AU. We shall see if I actually get any reviews this time around . . . when I put up my last story, I got more than 6 favorites or story alerts . . . and 1 review. This wouldn't bother me save that the number of reviews is the only statistic that readers see when skimming the story list—I myself use it as a determining factor in whether I read a story or not. While I do not write for reviews, and refuse to beg for them, I generally wait for a story to have two before I update it. If they never come, well, I don't need to update that story, since I've already posted said update on my livejournal and on various communities. There's a lot of readers who just indiscriminately "favorite" stories, so I don't take it as any particular expression of interest on their part.

Hey, I've been around the 'net a while, I know how this place works. ::shrugs:: Anyway! Story!

* * *

**xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx xOx**

Ryuuki knelt in his blacks and felt Shouka beside him to the left, Shou to his right. The floor was cold even through the thick weave of the reinforced cloth. It made his heart hammer more than it had during the mission. This was what he had waited for so long, to kneel obedient and accomplished before his brother, his Emperor.

"It is done, Your Majesty," he said, the perforated and cloth-muffled mask over his mouth and nose catching his words and distorting them. "Kai Taiji will trouble the realm no longer."

It was not yet dawn, and the twin candles made the shadows of Seien's face deeper. The chair on which he sat was carved wood, unpadded, and the crown with its hanging tassels rested heavy on his head. He looked tired and cruelly burdened despite his straight, proud carriage, and Ryuuki ached for him. The memory of Kai Taiji's dying jerk beneath his blade met it and was turned aside like a knife glancing off armor. _I have done as I always wished,_ he said to himself, and felt the guilt fade away. _I have served my brother. His burdens are one less._

"What of his plans?" Seien's voice was as firm and measured as always, not betraying the slightest hint of the hour or his own strain.

"I have them," Shou Taishi said, stepping forward and opening the lid of the carved lock box. It had taken Ryuuki and Shouka together nearly an hour to spring the intricate mechanism so they could reach the documents inside.

The Emperor lifted the top scroll and glanced over it, his mouth a grim line. "It's all here," he said. "Every word of it. High treason, and in his own hand. This must never come to light."

"I will destroy the documents, Your Majesty," Shouka promised. "I have already memorized their contents."

Seien nodded and replaced the scroll. "Kai Taiji was a great hero of the Battle of Eagle Pass, and tensions are already running high on the provincial border. The confusion caused by his death will give us the time we need to disarm the rebellion, but if anyone finds out he was involved all of Haku Province will go up in flames."

Ryuuki was still kneeling, but he felt it when the Emperor's attention returned to his bowed head. "You are the Black Wolf's apprentice," Seien said. "What are you called? The Wolf's Pup, perhaps?"

Shouka stirred faintly where he knelt, a rustle of cloth. "He'll soon complete his training," he said. "Already he can take my place as Your Majesty's servant."

"'Young Wolf' is more appropriate, then." Seien paused, and sighed. "We thank you for your service tonight. Your role will never be an easy one, and Our gratitude will be the larger part of your reward."

"I am honored to carry out Your Majesty's will," Ryuuki said, and the tightness of his throat blurred his words further. "That is the only reward I will ever desire."

"It will be a dark road, and a long one. Once there was a group of men who walked it, the Wolves of the Wind. But time and their endless battles have whittled away their numbers. With the Black Wolf no longer able to serve, now you are the only one left to carry on the fight. The burdens that they once shared have no one to bear them save you. Know that this realm needs you as never before- We need you."

"I will be your blade in the the darkness, and your shield," Ryuuki swore, his heart hammering madly in his chest. _At last, at last._ He had been waiting his whole life to hear those words. "Command, and it will be done. My life is yours, to spend as you see fit."

"How old are you?" The Emperor sighed. "No, don't tell me. Take off your mask. If you've sworn yourself to me, I would know your face."

Absolute obedience was another of Shouka's lessons, one he had learned early: Seien was Ryuuki's brother, but when the Emperor spoke to his sworn assassin, his word was law. Without a second's hesitation he reached up and swiftly released the ties on mask and cowl and drew them from his head.

He looked up into the Emperor's face only to find that Seien had gone as white as a ghost. "No," his brother whispered, "no." Suddenly his eyes blazed, and he thrust himself violently to his feet. "What is this? _What is this?_"

Ryuuki could count on one hand the number of times he had heard his brother shout, but he had never seen Seien this furious. He froze where he knelt, but in a single long stride Seien was next to him, grabbing his arm and roughly pulling him to his feet. Ryuuki found himself looking at his brother's shoulder; Seien had stepped in front of him, putting his body protectively between Ryuuki and the other men as he confronted Shou Taishi. "Shou, explain yourself!"

Shou was not at all ruffled by the Emperor's reaction; he tucked his hands into his sleeves with perfect aplomb. "It is as Your Majesty sees. Your new assassin is the Prince Ryuuki."

"Is this one of your jokes, old man? What the hell are you thinking? No one mentioned this to me- how dare you go behind my back to do this! Ryuuki is my brother- are the lives of Shi princes so cheap that you would risk him?"

"I have not risked him," Shou said mildly. He seemed completely unconcerned at being the subject of his monarch's rage. "As you might recall, I didn't give the assassination order that sent him out this night."

"Don't you dare answer me with platitudes! When did this- this treason start?"

"I began Prince Ryuuki's training when he was eleven," Shouka said quietly from where he still knelt on the cold stone floor.

"_That long?_ My honored father said nothing of this to me! Did you keep it from him as well? Shou I might have expected such a betrayal from- but you, Shouka? To take advantage of my trust, of Ryuuki's trust? Why the hell would you-"

Ryuuki finally managed to free himself from the paralysis that had gripped him when his brother had first exploded; he reached out and grasped Seien's sleeve. "It wasn't- Aniue, no, that's not what-"

"Ryuuki, this is infamous!" Seien didn't even glance at him; he was still glaring furiously at Shou and the Black Wolf. "If they think that-"

"It was me," he said, trying not to flinch from his brother's shocked eyes when Seien looked at him. It was harder than anything in his training had been, harder than his first kill, harder than he had ever thought it would be. "I wanted this. I was the one who found the Black Wolf, I was the one who convinced him to train me. I made-"

"You were _eleven_." His brother turned to him, gripping his arms. Seien was the taller one still, despite the passage of years; Ryuuki looked up into his brother's face and knew that he always would be. "Eleven years old when this started- you had no idea what was at stake, and they took advantage of that! I refuse to-"

"_I want this!_" Ryuuki was shaking, not with fear but with absolute certainty. He grasped Seien's arms in return, and his brother's eyes widened as he felt the strength behind Ryuuki's hands. "I wanted it then, I want it now. I have wanted it every day, every moment, no matter how hard things were. To serve you- as my brother, as my Emperor. To stand beside you, to support you, to protect you the way you protected me. To be for you what no one else could be! For that I would do anything, become anything. This- to be your blade, your assassin- no one else could do it but me. I knew that, wanted that, from the beginning. I will do anything you command, I will carry out any order. I will do anything you need me to do, without a moment's hesitation. To my last breath, I will-"

"_Never._ You are irreplaceable, you cannot be risked. They had no right- I will not ever-"

"You will," Shou said. "Your Majesty. You will give the order, and he will carry it out. You will do it not because you want to, but because you have to. As you did tonight, as he has done tonight. Because you are the Emperor."

Seien's head jerked up with something that resembled a snarl. "If you think for one moment that I'm going to-"

"I know. The Black Wolf and I have given Your Majesty a great gift tonight: a weapon ready to your hand. Unswerving and loyal beyond all doubt, someone who will never betray you or lie to you. You will use him . . . because you must, because you need every weapon you can get. As your father used the first Black Wolf- because he had to, as the Emperor, even though he loved her as a man. For you it will be the same. You will never draw this blade until you have to: the Black Wolf will always be your last resort, as he should be." Shou raised his folded arms and lowered his head. "That is our other gift to you."

Seien dropped his hands from Ryuuki's arms abruptly and turned away from all of them. His fists were clenched, his shoulders bowed and straining with tension. "Go," he grated. "All of you. Now. Go."

Ryuuki hesitated and started to reach out, only to feel Shouka's hand on his shoulder in reminder. He bowed low, and then melted after his teacher in the pre-dawn light.


	4. Cyberpunk: It's All Fun and Games

Author's Note: a preview of a much, much muuuuuch later event from my Cyberpunk story, which is also available on this website (under the highly original title of "Cyberpunk"). It doesn't have any direct spoilers for the story, so I think it can be safely enjoyed without infringing on the narrative. But I shall leave the final decision to you, but of course. Read or not, if you dare! The only warnings are for Elder Things. No 12-legged jumping spiders were harmed in the writing of this fic.

* * *

"Oh no!"

The pencil slipped from the girl's fingers, bounced on the table, and then dropped out of sight beneath the edge as she stammered an apology. "I'm sorry, I'm so clumsy, I always drop things-"

"Don't worry about it," Shuuei said with a smile. "Here, I'll get it."

He ducked his head under the edge of the table and easily spotted the pencil lying right near his foot. But there was no sense in missing out on an opportunity, and he ran an appreciative eye up the expanse of bare leg revealed by the girl's short pleated skirt, which was just long enough to be tantalizing.

_Great overall design_, he thought to himself, and reached for the pencil.

Two things happened at once: someone tapped him on the back, and his dinner companion shrieked. Shuuei started upright, unfortunately forgetting about the table, and whacked his head on its underside. It didn't hurt as much as it should have, but he did drop the pencil. Cursing, he maneuvered back around the flat edge so that he could actually straighten. The girl was still shrieking, her lovely violet eyes wide with shock, hands over her mouth. And Ryuuki was just behind him with a confused-but-game smile on his face- not particularly strange, except he was missing his lower body and half of his torso. It looked for all the world as if he had cut a rent in the fabric of the universe so that he could poke his head through from the other side.

Which was essentially what he had done. "Hallo, Shuuei!" he said cheerfully. "I wanted to ask you a question, and you didn't have the privacy switch flipped so I just came in . . . um, why is she making so much noise? Do you want me to rearrange the audio defaults?"

Shuuei sighed. "Pause program."

The noise cut off abruptly, and the girl froze in place, as did the other customers in the cafe who had turned towards the commotion. The cars passing on the road nearby also froze, still blurred with motion, but with their background traffic sounds cut off, replaced by the soft, romantic strains of the BGM theme.

"What's up?" Shuuei asked, standing up from the table. "Do you need me to log out?"

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that!" Ryuuki waved both hands in frantic denial. One of his hands was missing its arm still- he hadn't bothered to import the non-essential pieces of his projection code for the gesture. It was profoundly eerie. "I was just, um . . . well . . ." His eyes slid away almost guiltily and fixed on the image of the girl, frozen in mid-shriek. "Why _is_ she doing that, anyway?"

"Doing what, screaming?" Shuuei raised his eyebrows. "Well, I imagine it's because she's frightened."

"Really?" Ryuuki blinked. "I thought you guys were just sitting here, what did you do that scared her? Shuuei, you didn't-"

"Hey!" Shuuei cut in, sensing that his character was about to be maligned. "I had nothing to do with it! She was probably scared because you showed up out of nowhere missing more than half of your body!"

Ryuuki looked down at where the rest of his body body ought to have been. "This is scary?" he whistled something, and the program warped slightly around him, lines of code shimmering and swimming in and out of existence around the visible bits of him as he accessed the program databases. "Hm, I can't find it mentioned in the source code anywhere . . ."

Shuuei rubbed at his temple, feeling as if a headache were coming on. Granted it was the normal response of anyone trying to deal with Ryuuki's many instances of incomprehension. "That's because people don't usually show up in pieces. Since the game has no provisions to deal with that situation, it switches to the "scared" default and runs it until the input changes to something more normal."

"Oooh." Understanding dawned on Ryuuki's face, then he looked at the girl again and winced. "Shuurei looked just like that for a second," he mumbled. "I mean, she didn't shriek quite that much, only once, but-"

Shuuei groaned. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Ryuuki, what did you do?"

"I just bought her a present, like you said! But when I took it out of the box to give it to her, she- you know, like _that_, and-" he gestured with his disembodied hand at Shuuei's virtual date.

Shuuei was almost afraid to ask. "What exactly did you buy her?"

"It's, um- well, here, I'll show you." A series of rapid clicks, whistles and hums indicated that Ryuuki was accessing a virtual system. "Let me just patch the image onto a basic model- ah, there we go!"

A slimy, tentacled greenish-purplish _thing_ with an overabundance of eyes popped into existence in Ryuuki's hand, and Shuuei jumped backwards. "What the _hell_ is that?"

"It's a genetic hybrid of a squid, a frog, a venus fly trap, and a starfish!" Ryuuki said proudly. "They call it a shoggoth. I thought it was pretty neat, but Shuurei was- well, not happy."

"Ryuuki, you don't get women slimy creepy things!" He didn't care if it was just an image of the actual animal; Shuuei made sure his hands were nowhere near the slowly writhing and undulating shoggoth. "You're supposed to get them nice things! Flowers are a good place to start, usually, or jewelry, or something small and pretty . . . but nothing involving tentacles!"

"Oh." Ryuuki drooped. "They had jewel-patterned twelve-legged jumping spiders, but I thought something she didn't have to walk would be better."

Shuuei decided to try a new tact. "Well, why don't you try asking her out on a date, instead? Just the two of you spending some time together."

"A date? Oh, is that what you were doing here?" Ryuuki was inexperienced at social interactions, Shuuei reminded himself, but he was by no means stupid.

"Pretty much," Shuuei nodded. "Invite her to come with you somewhere . . . maybe to your favorite place? Then you can spend some time there just talking, maybe get something to eat and get to know each other better."

"My favorite place?" Ryuuki hesitated. "Well, I guess that would be the machine shop, but Kouyuu doesn't allow any food in there."

"Noooo." This wasn't working. "The machine shop's not someplace you'd go on a date, it has to be .. . somewhere different, somewhere romantic. Maybe a cafe, like this one . . ." Suddenly an idea struck Shuuei, one of blinding simplicity and brilliance. "Ryuuki . . . have you ever tried playing any game programs?"

"Not really, I've always just done my programs and training courses . . ." he trailed off. "Why?"

Shuuei laughed and took the hand that was not holding the shoggoth. "Ryuuki, my friend, I think you need a better teacher in the arts of romance than my poor self. Have you ever heard of dating sims?"


End file.
